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- - - - Copyright Denver Post Feb 23, 2003
- - - - 'Lost Boy' finds way to freedom Sudanese man describes arduous journey of 30,000 youths after civil war Annette Espinoza Denver Post Staff Writer. Denver Post. Denver, Colo.: Feb 23, 2003. p. Dominic Adim Arou was only a child in Aweil, Sudan, in 1987 when Sudanese civil war troops surrounded his town, set it on fire and killed dozens of people. During the chaos, Arou was separated from his family and fled. Two weeks after the attack, he returned home only to find corpses lying everywhere and homes burned to the ground. He couldn't find his family, and a few villagers who had survived the attack refused to help him. He was hungry. He was thirsty. And he was scared. Arou's journey of survival had begun. He walked more than 1,000 miles across his homeland with more than 30,000 other children who had suffered the same fate. Those children - many who are adults now - are known as the 'Lost Boys' of Sudan. Arou was in Denver on Friday, invited to speak about his life by McClain Finlon Advertising in its inaugural speaker series. As a Lost Boys Foundation speaker, he has visited schools, colleges and civic organizations nationwide. The foundation offers support to Lost Boys living in cities throughout the country, including Colorado. On Friday, Arou spoke of eating 'wild leaves' off of trees, stoning small animals when he could find them for food and crossing turbulent rivers when he didn't know how to swim. 'I walked day and night,' he said. 'You don't think about resting because you are hungry and thirsty, and you fear enemies will attack, so you just keep walking and walking until you become weak.' The Lost Boys walked at night and went into hiding during the day. They feared being eaten by lions and taken by soldiers who would enslave them or make them become child soldiers. In 2001, The Denver Post profiled some of the Lost Boys who moved to the metro area. 'I felt frightened,' James Manyror of Denver told The Post. 'I don't know where I was running. I ran all night with nothing - no shoes, no pants.' Eventually, Arou survived the arduous trip to Ethiopia and lived in a refugee camp there for three years. He said he was attacked by thousands of mosquitoes day and night and suffered from a painful eye infection. Burying his friends was the most difficult, he said. 'You cry, but the tears are dry,' Arou said. He said he considered suicide during the difficult times, but that his faith in God saved him. He was offered an education at the Ethiopian camp, but his only concern was for his family. 'We didn't want school. We wanted our families,' he said. Arou said he found out years later that his family survived the 1987 attack on his town. He hasn't seen them since then but said he has spoken to his brothers by phone and plans to visit soon with his parents, who have no idea what he went through. While Arou lived in the refugee camp in Ethiopia, he said, civil war broke out again and he was forced to flee. It took him and the boys a year to walk along the border between Ethiopia and Sudan, zig-zagging through the gunfire in hopes of finding a safe haven, he said. Arou said he saw hundreds of boys drowned in the Gilo River. He said they found the town of Pochalla and had small amounts of corn to eat. Twenty of them shared half a cup of water. Enemy soldiers in Pochalla killed or abducted most of the children and used them for slaves or as soldiers. In 1992, he said, he made it to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where only 12,000 of the more than 30,000 original Lost Boys were left. In the camp, he said, he worked with the United Nations as a youth leader for the Youth and Culture Program and was trained along with other survivors in leadership, drama, art, sports and English. He also taught HIV/AIDS prevention to other refugees. In November 2000, the first group of Lost Boys came to the United States, but Arou wasn't included because he hadn't yet been screened by the government. He stayed busy working in the camp and attending cultural- orientation classes to learn about U.S. culture. He barely survived a car accident that left scars on his face. In 2000, Arou said, he was thrilled when he found out his dream of coming to the U.S. would come true. But that was shattered when his flight, scheduled to leave Nairobi on Sept. 11, 2001, was delayed by the terrorist attacks. It would be another 15 days before he could start a new life in a new country. 'I thought, 'Is the war following me to America?'' Arou said. Finally, on Sept. 26, 2001, Arou's plane landed in Atlanta. He is employed as a fabric librarian for an interior design showroom and attends Georgia Perimeter College at night. He said he wants to work in international relations for the United Nations. Arou said he doesn't known when he was born, so the U.S. government issued him a birthday: Jan. 1, 1978. While he's officially 25 years old, he doesn't look a day out of high school. Despite all the hardships, life is good now for the lanky man, who said he enjoys playing basketball and visiting museums and has a smile that lights up any room. He is consulting on a book based on the Lost Boys, which is being written by best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Dave Eggers. Arou has also been asked to be a consultant on a feature film on the subject. "I'm in a place now where I could be free," Arou said. "I enjoy being free." - - - -
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